By Matilda Atieno
Through the Department of Gender, the County government of Kisumu has developed gender equality, sexual harassment, and discrimination policies to help workers identify sexual harassment behaviors at the workplace.
The policy outlines reporting and handling mechanisms in case of sexual harassment through the establishment of key structures to help create awareness and handle sexual harassment issues within the county government.
Issues of sexual harassment are not isolated and often rear their heads in sector-based operations. To provide suitable interventions that create safer workplaces and encourage productivity for all, an understanding of gender dynamics is essential. This includes acknowledging how existing gender relations limit and sometimes threaten the collective development of both women and men in a working environment.
It is with this background that the directorate of Gender and culture organized training for the various departments in the county to create awareness and to sensitize staff on gender equality, equity as well as sexual harassment in the workplace. The aim is to create awareness among a total of 4500 county employees and to increase awareness of sexual harassment issues among the participants. This seeks to help the committees learn how to respond to cases effectively, helping the county government achieve its zero-tolerance culture for sexual harassment.
Communication being the core stakeholder in addressing gender issues, the officers joined by their counterparts from the radio and print journalism were taken through the transformative role communication can play in achieving gender equality in societies. By creating gender-sensitive, gender-transformative content and breaking gender stereotypes. By challenging traditional social and cultural norms and attitudes regarding gender perceptions both in content and within the county government.
The county government forms a large part of the labor force that enables Kisumu to thrive. However, there is often vulnerability to workplace harassment. The county government with support from development partners responded to this matter with the seriousness it deserves.
The Kisumu County government’s sexual harassment policy will help workers identify sexual harassment behaviors at the workplace. The department has also held trainings for social workers and enforcement officers.
